Could unhappiness be contagious?
by lauraaawr
Summary: One-shot. Just something i wrote ages ago after watching 'Cyberwoman'. Please review :


Could unhappiness be contagious? Jack couldn't remember the last time he had felt this emotionally drained. He sighed as he fell into the chair behind his desk, relieved at being able to relax. He glanced at the full cup of coffee sat on his desk, sighing again as he remembered that it had been there for hours and would be freezing_. I could murder a cup of coffee right now_, Jack thought to himself. It hadn't even been a hard day, not by Torchwood standards anyway. There had been no rift activity, just a Weevil sighting in the city centre that had been dealt with easily by Jack and Owen. The team had spent the rest of that day catching up with odd jobs around the Hub. But there was just something not right with the team, and Jack had spent the entire day trying to figure out what it was. He had known for a few days that there was something wrong with them; they were all being too quiet, too distant. They had barely spoken to each other over the past few weeks, yet they carried on with their work almost mechanically, like their minds were elsewhere and their bodies were on autopilot. Of course deep down Jack knew what the problem was. It had been weeks since the incident involving the half converted cyberwoman hidden in the basement, yet Jack knew it wasn't something any of them would get over in a hurry. It wasn't even the danger they had been in, or the events that had happened as a result. It was the fact that Ianto, the man they all come to rely so heavily on, had betrayed them. He had lied and deceived them, and Jack knew they were struggling to forgive him.

Ianto now spent all of his time hidden away in the achieves. It had been three weeks since his suspension after the Lisa fiasco, yet to Jack it still felt as though he wasn't there. He hid himself away from the rest of the team, arriving at the Hub hours before anyone else in the morning, leaving once he was sure they had all gone. He hadn't been the same since his suspension, and Jack realised that a large part of that was his fault. He could sense Ianto's resentment towards him for killing Lisa, yet he could also sense the obvious guilt that was plaguing the young man. Ianto could barely face the rest of the team; he would spend hours down the achieves, doing whatever it was he did down there until he got summoned back into reality. Of course he couldn't hide forever; he would have to leave the safety of his own little world when someone wanted a cup of coffee or a take-out or something. Which the others seemed to need a lot lately. The team couldn't face talking to each other, yet they were still able to make Ianto suffer. Normally Jack would have resented the team treating Ianto like a slave; however he was willing to allow it as it dragged Ianto back into the team. Without Owens constant demands for coffee, Ianto would remain concealed away in the achieves all day.

Jack could feel a sort of physical need for caffeine building up inside him. He didn't want to treat Ianto the same way as the others did, but he hadn't seen the young Welshman in a few hours, and his desire for coffee was getting almost painful. He pushed his com into life.

"Ianto?" He called, slightly apprehensively.

"Yes Sir?" Came the faultlessly polite reply. Of course Ianto could never be anything other than the perfectly well-mannered, respectful butler type figure that the team couldn't cope without. Ianto was dying inside, yet he never forgot to be polite.

"If you're not too busy, I could murder a cup of coffee."

"Of course, Sir,"

"Great." There was a pause. "Perhaps you would like to make yourself one as well and join me in my office?"

"Was there something you wanted to discuss with me?"

"Does a guy need a reason? Maybe I just wanted to see that nice suit of yours?" Jack grinned, hoping that his flirtatious invitation would be enough to get Ianto to agree. There was another pause as Ianto seemed to consider his response.

"Actually, Sir, I am rather busy down here…" He finally replied.

"And I'm rather bored up here. Come on, we can have a good old chat like we used to. And this isn't a request, by the way. This is an order." Jack added, sternly. There was an audible sigh, before Ianto murmured his agreement. Jack leaned back further in his chair, a smile playing on his lips.

It was almost half an hour later when Ianto finally knocked on Jacks door, a tray with two cups of steaming coffee on it in his hand. Jack invited him in, and then watched as he mutely placed both cups on the desk, before reluctantly taking a seat in the chair opposite Jack. Jack thanked him, before taking a long slurp of his drink, Ianto following suit a lot less noisily.

"So…" Jack said, placing his drink back on the desk. He noticed how Ianto kept hold of his, wrapping his fingers around the hot mug almost defensively. That's what he had been reduced to, Jack realised sadly. All that was left of Ianto now was this defensive, silent shell of his former self. Not that Jack was entirely sure that he had ever known Ianto's true self. "How are you, Ianto?"

"Fine thank you, Sir." Ianto replied a bit too pleasantly. Jack peered at him, trying to see through the façade.

"Right. So, how is it being back? Have you managed to settle back in okay?" Jack tried to sound friendly, encouraging Ianto to open up to him. But Ianto simply shrugged his shoulders.

"Everything is fine." He replied, impassively.

"You sure? There aren't any… problems you want to discuss?"

"No. Everything is fine." Ianto repeated. At that Jack lost his temper. His fist banged down on the desk in anger, causing everything on it to shake violently.

"Damnit Ianto! Talk to me!" He snapped. Ianto flinched as though he had been slapped, but before Jack could even blink he had restored the emotionless look on his face.

"We are talking, Sir." He replied.

"Don't be smart. What's going on with you? You hide yourself away in the achieves like some sort of criminal, you don't talk to anyone; I haven't seen you smile in weeks! Talk." Jack commanded.

"What do you want me to say?" There was an obvious edge to Ianto's voice as he struggled to keep the emotion from leaking to the surface.

"Tell me what you are feeling." Jack urged. Ianto's expressionless mask finally slipped and he glared at Jack.

"Oh, is this part of that 7 point plan the counsellor recommended to get our marriage back on track?" He replied shortly.

"Could you please try to take this seriously, Ianto?" Jack snapped. Ianto simply pouted and took another sip of his coffee, deliberately avoiding looking at Jack. Jack decided to try a different tactic. "Please Ianto." He begged softly. "I need you to talk to me. Let me try to help?"

"Help with what exactly?"

"Help with whatever is wrong with you. You are clearly not happy, and I want to fix that. You can't carry on like this; it's not good for anybody."

"What? So I have to walk around with a smile on my face all the time? Do I loose my job if I don't?"

"Of course not, Ianto. But if being here is making you feel this unhappy maybe it would be better for you to leave? Not forever," He added hastily at the look on Ianto's face. "Just until you sort yourself out." Ianto suddenly got to his feet, the almost full mug falling out of his hand and clattering to the floor, drenching the front of his trousers with hot coffee. He pointed an accusatory finger at Jack as the anger spilled out of him.

"I do all the filing, I make the coffee, I get the food, I do all of the cover-ups, I deal with the public, the police and UNIT when you can't be bothered, I sort the achieves, I feed your alien pets, I clean the hub, the SUV and the tourist office and I generally act like a servant to everyone here, especially you. I do all of this without complaining, despite most of these tasks not being part of my actual job. I put up with all the shit I get from everyone else without complaining, and I do a _good _job. But because I don't want to skip along and sing while I work, you are going to retcon me back to my childhood?"

"Whoa, I never said anything about retcon!" Jack put his hands up defensively, struggling not to smile. Angry Ianto was surprisingly sexy. "I just want you to talk to me Ianto!"

"About what? About what happened? _About what I did?" _There was a pause as Ianto seemed to realise that he had approached the topic he had been so determined to avoid. "That's funny, because not one of you has tried talking to me about it before; you have all been too busy making me suffer!"

"We all care about you Ianto." Jack protested. "We just didn't want to push you into talking about it before you were ready. But it might help, you know. You should talk about it."

"What? You want me to talk about how I betrayed you all? How I put everyone's lives in danger, all because I was too weak to let… to let her… go?" His anger fizzled out suddenly, as he sighed and slumped back into the seat, leaning his head backwards, gazing up at the ceiling. "I'm sorry."

"Me too." Jack replied softly. He watched as Ianto inhaled deeply, clearly trying to calm himself down. Jack had never been particularly good at comforting people in times of need, and as he watched Ianto he couldn't help but wish he knew what to say.

"I loved her." Ianto finally muttered. "I loved her so much. And I destroyed her. I turned her into a monster, Jack. How could I do that?" A single tear trickled down his cheek. Jack got to his feet and strode quickly to Ianto's side, bending down in front of him, and enveloping the younger man into a hug. Ianto's body stiffened at first, the contact taking him by surprise. But after a few moments he collapsed against Jack, his resolve breaking and tears streaming down his face. Jack held onto Ianto as he sobbed, murmuring soft encouragements and rubbing his hand soothingly up and down the younger mans back. After what seemed like an eternity to both men, Ianto pulled away from Jack just enough for them to look at each other.

"I'm sorry." Ianto mumbled softly, his face inches away from Jack's. "For everything. I just... I'm not like you Jack; I can't always do the right thing. Letting her go... not even trying, well that wasn't an option, not to me. I needed to help her. I needed to _fix_ her. Deceiving you all to help her was wrong but necessary."

"I understand why you did it, Ianto. And I've forgiven you, because I know that this one mistake doesn't define you as a person. People will do stupid, idiotic things for love, trust me; I have done enough of them. But I know that you are a loyal, trustworthy person who made a mistake. And I can forgive you for that." Ianto smiled softly at Jack's words.

"Thanks Jack." He sighed gently. "I really am sorry though." Jack rubbed a finger tenderly along Ianto's cheek, smiling.

"Don't be." The two men gazed at each other for a few moments, before a loud bang sounded from outside Jacks office, pulling them both back to reality. Ianto jumped away from Jack's touch, as though he had been scolded. Jack got to his feet slowly and smiled at the flustered look on Ianto's face.

"Well anyway... I should get back to work." Ianto mumbled awkwardly.

"Don't hide away, Ianto. You are a part of this team and you should act like it." Jack replied sternly. Ianto nodded meekly, before disappearing out of the door. Jack knew things couldn't change overnight; it would take time for the team to trust Ianto again. And it would probably take even longer for Ianto to trust himself again. But Jack was confident that he could restore his team back to how they used to be. He strode across to the window and looked down as Ianto silently made his way through the hub, down into the achieves, the others oblivious to his presence. Jack sighed; it was definitely going to take time, but he was going to turn them into a team again, somehow.


End file.
